, without saying a word, so great was his
surprise.

At last, when he had recovered himself, he said, "And what is become
of the merchant?"

"Merchant!" answered she; "he is as much one as I am. I will tell you
who he is, and what is become of him; but you had better hear the
story in your own chamber; for it is time for your health that you had
your broth after your bathing."

Morgiana then told him all she had done, from the first observing the
mark upon the house, to the destruction of the robbers, and the flight
of their captain.

On hearing of these brave deeds from the lips of Morgiana, Ali Baba
said to her--"God, by your means, has delivered me from the snares of
these robbers laid for my destruction. I owe, therefore, my life to
you; and, for the first token of my acknowledgment, I give you your
liberty from this moment, till I can complete your recompense as I
intend."

Ali Baba's garden was very long, and shaded at the farther end by a
great number of large trees. Near these he and the slave Abdalla dug a
trench, long and wide enough to hold the bodies of the robbers; and as
the earth was light, they were not long in doing it. When this was
done, Ali Baba hid the jars and weapons; and as he had no occasion for
the mules, he sent them at different times to be sold in the market by
his slave.

While Ali Baba was taking these measures the captain of the forty
robbers returned to the forest with inconceivable mortification. He
did not stay long; the loneliness of the gloomy cavern became
frightful to him. He determined, however, to avenge the death of his
companions, and to accomplish the death of Ali Baba. For this purpose
he returned to the town, and took a lodging in a khan, disguising
himself as a merchant in silks. Under this assumed character he
gradually conveyed a great many sorts of rich stuffs and fine linen to
his lodging from the cavern, but with all the necessary precautions to
conceal the place whence he brought them. In order to dispose of the
merchandise, when he had thus amassed them together, he took a
warehouse, which happened to be opposite to Cassim's, which Ali Baba's
son had occupied since the death of his uncle.

He took the name of Cogia Houssain, and, as a newcomer, was, according
to custom, extremely civil and complaisant to all the merchants his
neighbors. Ali Baba's son was, from his vicinity, one of the first to
converse with Cogia Houssain, who strove to cultivate his frien